Actress Ellen Page is mad at Naughty Dog over The Last of Us

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Those of you who had the pleasure of playing Naughty Dog’s latest opus, The Last of Us, last week — or ever saw a screenshot and are aware of the likenesses of actresses — might’ve noticed that deuteragonist Ellie looks an awful lot like Juno star Ellen Page. You also might’ve noticed that her name is Ellie. The character’s likeness is just too similar to Page’s to be a weird coincidence, especially considering the two share a name. Naughty Dog didn’t ask Page’s permission to use her likeness, and Page mentioned she wasn’t too fond of that.

In a reddit AMA, Page directly stated that using her likeness was “not appreciated,” especially because she’s acting in Quantic Dream’s upcoming game, Beyond: Two Souls. That might get confusing for the gaming populace, or at least seem a little disrespectful to both Page and Quantic Dream.

Believe it or not, when early builds of The Last of Us were shown off, Ellie looked even more like Ellen Page than she does now. After everyone noticed how striking the resemblance was, Naughty Dog remodeled Ellie to look a little more like her voice actress, Ashley Johnson, who has been acting and voice acting since she was around seven-years-old. You might remember her as the angsty daughter from the 2000 Mel Gibson powerhouse What Women Want, or maybe recognize her voice from Teen Titans and various Ben 10 series. Even with the addition of Johnson’s features, though, Ellie still looks a whole lot like Ellen Page.

Modeling an in-game character after a real-life actor or actress without getting permission isn’t anything new for the gaming industry. The Silent Hill series, for instance, is known for modeling its characters after famous actresses; Maria from Silent Hill 2 is famously inspired by Cameron Diaz. We get that an actress wouldn’t be thrilled with a company using using her likeness without her permission — especially when the likeness was used in what could be considered a competing product to one in which she is actually starring — but one wonders how Page would’ve felt if Naughty Dog came right out and said, “We love Ellen, this character is our way of showing that.”

Whether or not Naughty Dog really did use Page’s likeness, or this is some kind of ridiculous cosmic coincidence, The Last of Us is a revelation and seems to be the game of this generation, and Page’s (possibly accidental) likeness will forever be attached to video game history.